Operating Systems

CSC 262, Spring 1997

Ileana Streinu

Read Minix installation guide

Minix File Hierarchy

The purpose of this homework is to get you started on the reading preparing for the installation of the Minix operating system. Once Minix will be installed, you will become its system administrators, so you have to become familiar with its structure.

1. From the class home page (accessible through links from my home page) follow links to Bookmarks/Minix/Minix Home page. Look around. Find out what you need in order to install Minix. Find out what you already have on the CD-ROM that came with the textbook and what you may need to download from the Minix home page (maybe nothing).
2. Send me email (at 262b@sophia.smith.edu) answering briefly the following questions:
   • hardware requirements for minix on a 386
   • how to make copies of Minix from the CD-ROM on floppies and why are they necessary.
   • main steps in installing Minix, from the install.txt file.

3. From the CD-ROM or from the Minix home page, access the manual pages and read and study hier(7) and boot(8). Do a man hier and a man boot on grendel and compare the pages. You should be prepared for a short class presentation of the information in these man pages (for Minix). You should choose 4-5 files in hier (such as /etc/fstab or passwd) whose function you understand, and present them in class on Tuesday. You should be able to answer questions such as: who owns the file? Who and how (if info is available) might modify the file? What is in the file? When is it used? By whom?